JPH0635829Y2 - Vehicle occupant protection device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an occupant protection device for an automobile, and more particularly to an occupant protection device using an airbag device disposed at a steering wheel center.

2. Description of the Related Art In an automobile, as shown in FIG. 7, an airbag device 3 is provided at the center of the steering wheel 1 for the purpose of protecting the driver in the event of a vehicle collision, and the deceleration sensor detects the effect of the vehicle collision. It is known that the bag body 4 is rapidly expanded based on the above, and the occupant D is flexibly received by the bag body 4 to prevent a secondary collision with the steering wheel 1. This similar structure is, for example,
Issued by FORD in August 1985 TEMPO / TOPAZ SUPLEMENTAL DRIVER
AIRBAG RESTRAINT PROGRAM ”catalog.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As shown in FIG. 7, in a vehicle in which the steering shaft 1a has a large inclination angle, when the occupant D pushes the bag body 4 because the steering wheel 1 becomes nearly horizontal, Since the bag body 4 escapes above the front part of the steering wheel 1 as shown by the chain line in the figure, the bag body 4 must be upsized. Therefore, the present invention provides an occupant protection device for a vehicle, which is capable of reliably restraining and protecting an occupant with the bag body without increasing the size of the bag body even in a vehicle with a large steering shaft inclination angle. It is a thing.

Means for Solving the Problem A steering wheel center is provided with an airbag device that operates based on a detection action of a deceleration sensor, and a lap belt or a lap belt is attached to an automobile having a lap belt as a seat belt device. A cylinder mechanism connected to an occupant restraint member such as a seat, which allows forward occupant's forward inertial movement of a required stroke until the occupant approaches a rim lower end of a steering wheel at the time of a vehicle collision, and after the required stroke is moved, the cylinder mechanism is moved. Occupant restraint control means for rapidly pulling the occupant restraint member rearward by actuating the occupant to bring the upper half of the occupant's upper body into a forward leaning posture substantially at right angles to the steering wheel with the lap belt as a fulcrum,
After the detection operation of the deceleration sensor, the operation of the airbag device is delayed for a predetermined time, and the delay means for synchronizing the fully opened timing of the bag body with the forward leaning posture timing of the occupant is provided.

Action When a vehicle collides, the occupant moves forward due to inertia,
When the occupant approaches the lower end of the rim of the steering wheel by the required stroke movement, the occupant restraint member is rapidly pulled rearward by the cylinder mechanism of the occupant restraint control means. As a result, the upper half of the occupant leans forward with the lap belt as the fulcrum, and becomes substantially perpendicular to the steering wheel. On the other hand, at the time of a vehicle collision, the deceleration sensor detects the deceleration of the vehicle, but the delay device activates the airbag device after a predetermined time elapses, so that the fully open timing of the bag body and the forward leaning posture timing of the occupant are substantially synchronized. Then, the upper body of the occupant is securely restrained by the bag body.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1-3, 3 is an airbag device arranged in the center of the steering wheel 1, 5 is a lap belt as a seat belt for restraining an occupant D seated on a seat S, and an outer anchor 6 thereof is not shown. The tongue 7 is fixed to the side sill of the vehicle body, and the tongue 7 is fixed to the inner side.
It is worn around the waist. Reference numeral 9 denotes an occupant restraint control means provided with a cylinder mechanism 10 connected to the lap belt 5, which is required by the occupant D in cooperation with the lap belt 5 until the occupant D approaches the lower end of the rim 2 of the steering wheel 1 in the event of a vehicle collision. The front inertial movement of the stroke is allowed, the cylinder mechanism 10 is operated after the required stroke movement, and the lap belt 5 is rapidly pulled backward, and the upper body of the occupant D is substantially orthogonal to the steering wheel 1 with the lap belt 5 as a fulcrum. This is what makes the player lean forward. The cylinder mechanism 10
Is fixed on the vehicle body floor F, and a slider 13 which slides along a guide rail 14 fixed on the vehicle body floor F is fixed to the end of the operating rod 11. The buckle 8 is connected to the slider 13 via a wire 15, and
The slider 13 is a claw piece 14 formed by cutting and raising a guide rail 14.
In the normal state, forward and backward movement is prevented by a, and an external force of a predetermined value or more acts via the lap belt 5 and the wire 15 at the time of a vehicle collision, or a piston is applied as described later.
When the working pressure of 12 or more acts on 12, the tab 14a is bent,
It is capable of sliding in the front-back direction after overcoming. On the other hand, an explosive 16 is disposed in a chamber separated by the piston 12 in the cylinder body 10A, and the explosive 16 receives an ignition signal and explodes to generate an operating pressure to generate the piston 12
Is rapidly moved, so that the lap belt 5 is rapidly pulled through the operating rod 11 and the wire 15. The distance between the piston 12 and the set position of the explosive 16 is
The slider 13 has a size sufficient to move forward in the guide rail 14 until the occupant D approaches the lower end of the rim 2 of the steering wheel 1. Reference numeral 18 denotes a delay circuit as a delay means interposed in an actuation circuit between the deceleration sensor 17 and the airbag device 3. The delay circuit 18 allows the deceleration sensor 17 to operate.
After the detection action, the ignition operation of the airbag device 3 is delayed for a predetermined time so that the fully opened state of the bag body 4 is substantially synchronized with the forward leaning posture timing of the occupant D. Further, in this embodiment, the detection signal of the deceleration sensor 17 is used as the ignition signal of the explosive 16 of the cylinder mechanism 10. As described above, the occupant D approaches the lower end of the rim 2 of the steering wheel 1 by a predetermined stroke. The ignition timing is set by the delay circuit 18 so that the ignition signal is sent to the explosive 16 at the time of inertial movement to. Reference numeral 19 in FIG. 1 denotes a battery.

Next, the operation of the embodiment apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to the time chart shown in FIG. Here, with respect to the ignition timings of the cylinder mechanism 10 and the airbag device 3, the head, chest and abdomen of the occupant D are horizontally moved forward about 10 cm from the normal sitting position when the vehicle collides, and the chest is steered. It is assumed that the time constant of the delay circuit 18 is set so that it is approximately 50 msec after the collision near the lower end of the rim 2 of the wheel 1. Further, in the airbag device 3, after the ignition, the bag body is fully opened at the end of the backward stroke of the cylinder mechanism 10.

When the vehicle collides, its deceleration is quickly detected by the deceleration sensor 17, but the delay circuit 18 delays the signal output to the airbag device 3 and the cylinder mechanism 10 for the predetermined time. Due to the deceleration of the vehicle, a load acts on the lap belt 5 in the inertial movement direction of the occupant D, so that the constraint by the claw pieces 14a of the slider 13 is released and the slider 13 slides in the guide rail 14. As shown by the chain line in FIG. 1, a substantially horizontal forward inertial movement is allowed on the seat S without changing the rotation angle of the upper half of the occupant D. After the collision, a predetermined time (50m se
When c) elapses, an ignition signal is output from the delay circuit 18 to the airbag device 3 to start deployment of the bag body 4, while an ignition signal is also output to the cylinder mechanism 10.
Therefore, the occupant D horizontally moves forward about 10 cm from the normal seating position, and immediately before the chest collides with the lower end of the rim 2 of the steering wheel 1, the explosive powder 16 in the cylinder body 10 ignites and explodes, and the operating rod 11 Then, the lap belt 5 is rapidly pulled rearward through the slider 13, the wire 15 and the like to pull the waist of the occupant D rearward, and the forward leaning of the upper body is started. And
At the stroke end of the cylinder mechanism 10, the lap belt 5 is used as a fulcrum to bring the upper body of the occupant D into a forward leaning posture substantially perpendicular to the steering wheel 1. During the transition process of the upper half of the occupant D to the forward leaning posture, the bag body 4
Of the occupant D at the beginning of the deployment of the bag body 4.
Since the chest is close to the lower end of the rim 2 of the steering wheel 1, the chest once comes into elastic contact with the bag body 4, but is separated from the bag body 4 by pulling the waist backward as described above. Therefore, the bag body 4 is normally deployed without receiving a horizontal load. Then, since the bag body 4 is fully opened at the stroke end of the cylinder mechanism 10, the head and chest of the occupant D penetrates into the substantially axial line of the bag body 4 and the front portion of the bag body 4 is penetrated. Securely restrains the occupant without escaping upward. The time required for restraining the occupant D by the bag body 4 is 50 msec from the start of ignition and deployment of the bag body 4, and thus 100 msec from the collision. FIG. 4 shows the peak values of the deceleration of the head and chest of the occupant D, the upper body rotation angle, and the head front displacement when the occupant was restrained. on the other hand,
As described above, the upper body of the occupant D is placed on the steering wheel 1
Since the chest is distant from the lower end of the rim 2 of the steering wheel 1 by leaning forward at a substantially right angle and restrained by the bag body 4, there is an advantage that the chest can be sufficiently protected.

5 and 6 show different examples of the occupant restraint control means 9. In this embodiment, the outer anchor (not shown) of the lap belt 5 is fixed to the outer side surface of the seat S, and the buckle 7 is fixed to the inner side surface of the seat S to fix the floor lap belt 5 to the seat S. It is attached to itself. The leg portion Sa of the seat S is connected to the slider 13 of the slide mechanism having the same structure as the guide rail 14 and the slider 13 shown in FIG. When an external force is applied, it can slide along the guide rail 14. Then, the cylinder mechanism 10 fixes the cylinder body 10A on the floor panel F, and the operation rod 1
One end is connected to the front leg Sa of the seat S. That is, in this embodiment, when a vehicle crashes, the occupant D is constrained to the seat S by the lap belt 5 and the occupant D is inertially moved forward by the required stroke for each seat S, immediately before the occupant D collides with the steering wheel 1. Then, by igniting the cylinder mechanism 10 and pulling the seat S rearward rapidly, the occupant D
The upper half of the body is tilted substantially straight with respect to the steering wheel 1 to obtain the same effect as that of the above embodiment.

In the above embodiment, the ignition signal of the explosive 16 of the cylinder mechanism 10 is taken by the deceleration sensor 17, but it may be done by a stroke sensor that detects the operating stroke of the cylinder mechanism 10. Also, as the cylinder mechanism 10, the explosive 16
In addition to the ignition operation described above, any operation that can be rapidly activated by receiving an operation signal may be used. Although a circuit is used as the delay means, the point is that the time when the bag is fully opened and the time when the occupant leans forward are the same. Therefore, it is also possible to change the explosive characteristics of the explosive or change the gas flow in the inflator. Delay means can be configured.

As described above, according to the present invention, the occupant restraint control means causes the upper half of the occupant's upper body to incline forward at a substantially right angle to the steering wheel at the time of a vehicle collision, and Since the fully open timing of the bag body is substantially synchronized with the forward leaning posture time, a horizontal load is not applied to the bag body, and the size of the bag can be reduced. Preventing escape to the upper part, the upper body of the occupant, especially,
The head and chest can be securely restrained with a small bag body, which has the advantage of further improving safety.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing an operating state of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of an occupant restraint control means. FIG. 4 is an operation time chart diagram of the apparatus of the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing a different example of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a schematic side view showing the same operation state, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a conventional device. 1 ... Steering wheel, 2 ... Rim, 3 ... Air bag device, 4 ... Bag body, 5 ... Lap belt, 9 ... Occupant restraint control means, 10 ... Cylinder mechanism, 17 ... Deceleration sensor, 18
... delay means, D ... occupant, S ... seat.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A vehicle equipped with an airbag device, which operates based on a detection function of a deceleration sensor, at a steering wheel center and a lap belt as a seat belt device, such as a lap belt or a seat provided with the lap belt. It has a cylinder mechanism connected to the occupant restraint member, and allows a forward inertial movement of a required stroke of the occupant until the occupant approaches the rim lower end of the steering wheel at the time of a vehicle collision, and operates the cylinder mechanism after moving the required stroke. Rapidly pulling the occupant restraint member backward,
The occupant restraint control means for making the upper half of the occupant's upper body in a forward leaning posture substantially at right angles to the steering wheel with the lap belt as a fulcrum, and after the deceleration sensor detects, the operation of the airbag device is delayed for a predetermined time, and the bag body And a delay means for synchronizing the fully open timing of the vehicle with the forward leaning posture timing of the occupant.